HOW TO PERFORM A COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

In today’s fiercely competitive business landscape, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for any company’s success and growth. Whether you’re a startup or an established small business, conducting regular competitive analyses can be a game-changer in spotting innovation opportunities, promoting your company, enhancing your products or services, and outperforming your rivals.

This article aims to guide small business owners on how to conduct a comprehensive competitive analysis to gain insights into their market, understand their strengths and weaknesses, identify potential threats, and seize growth opportunities.

How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Conducting a competitive analysis involves evaluating your business’s performance and offerings in comparison to other companies selling similar products or services in your market. By focusing on identifying market players that might encroach on your opportunities, you can isolate their operational strengths, significant weaknesses, product offerings, market dominance, and missed opportunities.

Identifying the Products or Services for Evaluation

Begin the analysis by identifying the products or services that generate the highest revenue or have significant growth potential. These will be the focal points for most of your analyses.

Researching Direct Competitors

Direct competitors are companies that target the same market with comparable products or services. For example, if you’re an accounting firm, your direct competitors would be other accounting firms.

Uncovering Indirect Competitors

Indirect competitors occupy the same market but present varying products or services. For example, accountants may encounter indirect rivalry from accounting software companies focusing on serving entrepreneurs.

Exploring Replacement Competitors

Replacement competitors offer different products or services but address the same problem as your offerings. For example, they may offer applications that assist entrepreneurs, even though they’re not accountants.

Examining Key Areas for Study

When analyzing competitors, focus on areas such as pricing, distribution and delivery strategies, market share, new product or service launches, loyal customer base, quality of after-sales service, and sales and marketing channels they utilize.

Performing Research on Identified Competitors

Conduct in-depth research on all identified competitors. You may find minimal financial and operational data for most companies, especially private ones. However, customer target groups, product characteristics, employee information, and pricing data are often more accessible.

Documenting the Findings

Compile your research into a comprehensive written analysis that is substantive and actionable yet not overly lengthy. Utilize comparison tables and graphs to visualize your market position against your competitors.

Implementing Improvements and Change

Based on your analysis, identify areas that can be improved and implement the necessary changes. Consider enhancing product quality, adjusting pricing for better affordability, or investing in a more efficient customer relationship management system for improved prospect management.

To get a more comprehensive picture of the entire competitive landscape, document potential threats that could negatively impact your business, as well as opportunities where you can outperform your competitors.

Monitoring and Measuring Results

After implementing changes, closely monitor your sales and financial performance. Use profit and loss statements to assess the effectiveness of your improvements.

It’s recommended to analyze 10-12 competitors and concentrate on direct and indirect competitors with similar market shares rather than replacement competitors.

The Advantages of a Competitive Analysis

In today’s digitally innovative era, no business can afford to remain static and expect to survive. Companies can vanish overnight if they fail to keep an eye on emerging trends. Conducting regular competitive analyses helps businesses in the following ways:

1. Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses: Understanding where your company excels compared to the competition allows you to focus your marketing efforts on those strengths. On the other hand, knowing your weaknesses helps you strategize and improve your products, services, or after-sales support to outperform rivals.
2. Understanding Your Market: You might be aware of many competitors, but not all of them immediately. Identifying key competitors, along with potential newcomers, is essential to beat the competition.
3. Evaluating Industry Trends: Analyzing competitors’ new or improved products and services provides insights into emerging trends that you may not have observed yet. By observing other companies’ actions, you can assess if they have taken the right direction and determine if you need to compete with them.
4. Planning Future Growth: Analyzing your competitors’ positions allows you to plan your growth accordingly. Knowing the number of products you need to sell, demographics to target, and any skill gaps in your organization helps you achieve your goals.

Factors to Include in Your Competitive Analysis

To ensure a thorough competitive analysis, consider these ten essential elements:

1. Feature Matrix: Compile all features of each direct competitor’s product or service into a spreadsheet to visualize their relative positioning.
2. Market Share Percentage: Evaluating market share percentages helps identify key competitors in your sector.
3. Pricing Strategy: Determine the pricing strategies employed by your competitors and their positioning concerning quantity and quality.
4. Marketing: Investigate each competitor’s marketing plan, including their website, social media strategy, sponsored events, SEO tactics, slogans, and current marketing campaigns.
5. Points of Differentiation: Analyze what makes your competitors unique and how they present their best qualities compared to your company.
6. Strengths: Identify what your competitors excel at and what works well for them. Do reviews indicate superior products or well-known brands? Can you test a competitor’s products to see where they outperform yours?
7. Weaknesses: Determine what each competitor could improve to give you a competitive edge. Do they have weak social media strategies? Lack an online store? Do they have outdated websites?
8. Geography: Examine the location of your competitors and the regions they serve. Are they brick-and-mortar businesses, or do they conduct most of their activities online?
9. Culture: Evaluate competitors’ goals, employee satisfaction, and company culture. Do they promote their founding year, or are they recent start-ups? Employee reviews can offer insights into their company culture.
10. Customer Reviews: Analyze customer reviews of your competitors, whether positive or negative. Examine five-star, three-star, and one-star reviews to gain honest feedback.

The Importance of Regular Competitive Analysis

It’s vital to conduct competitive analyses regularly. Perform a comprehensive analysis annually and a more focused analysis quarterly.

Many companies conduct a competitive analysis when they start and then neglect it once their brand is established. However, industries are continuously evolving, and each time a new company enters your space, they perform a competitive analysis. It’s essential to continually evaluate your competitors.

Regularly analyzing your business against competitors allows you to discover ways to improve your products, better serve your target customers, and increase your profitability.

Conclusion

In conclusion, conducting a regular competitive analysis is essential for any small business looking to thrive in a competitive marketplace. By analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of your competitors, you gain valuable insights that enable you to position your company more effectively and seize growth

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Why is a competitive analysis important for my business?

A competitive analysis is vital because it allows you to understand your market landscape, identify your competitors, and gain insights into their strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge helps you make informed decisions, improve your products or services, and outperform your rivals.

2. How often should I conduct a competitive analysis?

It is recommended to conduct a comprehensive competitive analysis once a year and a more focused analysis quarterly. Regularly monitoring your competitors will help you stay agile in a rapidly changing business environment.

3. What areas should I focus on when analyzing my competitors?

When analyzing your competitors, focus on key areas such as pricing, distribution and delivery strategies, market share, new product launches, customer base, after-sales service, and marketing channels they use.

4. How many competitors should I analyze?

Limit your analysis to around 10-12 competitors and concentrate on direct and indirect competitors with similar market shares. Avoid getting overwhelmed by studying too many replacement competitors.

5. How can a competitive analysis benefit my growth strategy?

A competitive analysis can help you plan your future growth by identifying the number of products to sell, demographics to target, and potential skill gaps in your organization. It enables you to create a roadmap for success and outpace your competitors.

6. Can a competitive analysis uncover hidden market opportunities?

Yes, by analyzing competitors, you may discover untapped opportunities in the market. Understanding the trends and new offerings from your competitors can inspire innovation and help you seize opportunities before your rivals do.

7. What if my business is performing better than my competitors?

Even if your business is performing well, a competitive analysis can still provide valuable insights. It helps you maintain your competitive advantage and continuously improve to stay ahead in the market.

8. Is a competitive analysis only for startups or new businesses?

No, competitive analysis is beneficial for all businesses, regardless of their stage. Both startups and established companies can gain valuable insights from analyzing their competition to make informed decisions and foster growth.

9. How can I ensure the accuracy of my competitive analysis?

To ensure accuracy, rely on credible sources of information such as official company websites, industry reports, and customer reviews. Use data-driven analysis and cross-reference multiple sources to validate your findings.

10. Can I conduct a competitive analysis on my own, or should I seek professional assistance?

While you can perform a basic competitive analysis on your own, seeking professional assistance from marketing experts or consulting firms can provide more in-depth insights and strategic recommendations for your business.

Remember, a competitive analysis is a powerful tool that can help your business thrive by enabling you to make data-driven decisions and capitalize on market opportunities while staying ahead of your competitors.